Leech
by Ranma Hakubi
Summary: Challenge by KyuubiWindscar. Naruto comes upon a new ability: obtaining a person's bloodline. But there are catches: 1. he has to kill the person and 2. it makes him hungry for more. What will a jinchuuriki do in a village known for its bloodline clans?
1. Chapter 1

Leech (A challenge by KyuubiWindscar)

AN: This first chapter takes information heavily from Naruto manga chapters 21, 29-31

Dialogue

"Bwahahaha!" – normal speech

'_Bwahahaha!_' – thoughts/thought speech

"**Bwahahaha!"** – demon/big summon speech

"_**Bwahahaha!**_**"** – demon/big summon/Inner Sakura thoughts/ thought speech

Chapter 1: First Feed

Naruto rushed through the forest with all the speed he could muster toward a familiar destination. It was the bridge where he had consistently guarded the old drunkard, while being forced into menial labor with his clones. This is not to say that he minded very much, for at heart he was a cheerful and exuberant person. Despite the insults, being ignored, and poor living conditions, Naruto felt truly happy, especially since a few days ago, when he met someone who actually cared about him.

Flashback

_ He was asleep in the forest, after spending the night blowing off steam and abusing poor trees with his fists and feet. He felt a hand touch his shoulder, and immediately he woke up. His first instinct was to flinch, but he wasn't quite awake and naturally suppressed that part of him. When he opened his eyes, a vision of beauty stood before him. Long, sleek black hair, and a porcelain face, the girl before him seemed the very icon of femininity in this day and age (not that Naruto even knows what half those words mean)._

"_You'll catch a cold sleeping in a place like this," the girl softly spoke._

"_Hnh?" he replied intelligently. Naruto sat up, leaving the kunai he slept with next to his side. "Who are you?" _

_ From there, introductions were done, as he came around, and he found out that the lovely person was named Haku. After finding out what she was doing so early in the morning, he helped put together a basket of the leaves she needed. Some more idle chatter, and he began to open up to this beautiful girl. Eventually, he decided to tell her his dream. This was the moment of truth. And to his surprise, she did not make fun of him for his lofty goal, nor did she put him down as a loser. She genuinely believed he would become strong. This was a new feeling for Naruto. Sure, Iruka-sensei, Teuchi-ojisan, and Hokage-jiji supported him, but they weren't his peers, and there was a lot of negative reinforcement about his self worth from them. As the conversation wound down, and the girl began to walk away. Naruto promised himself, just as he agreed with her, that he would find her again, if only to talk. As she exited the clearing, she casually mentioned._

"_By the way I'm a boy."_

End Flashback

Naruto refused to believe that the person he had met was, in fact, male. Hell, she was prettier than Sakura-chan, a lot less violent, and overall easier to talk with. No way that could be a guy! This with line of reasoning firmly in hand, Naruto reached the bridge, completely forgetting about the "sneak up and take 'em out" approach that normally works. Instead he decided to do what he normally does: wing it. As he got closer to the floating mirror-things though, something strange began to start. In his ears, he could hear his own heartbeat. First faintly, and steadily, if slowly, getting stronger. He pushed the sound away and focused on the battle. Sakura-chan was guarding the old drunkard, there was a heavy mist on one side of the bridge, and Sasuke was in the shell of mirrors, getting cut up.

'_Oh wait, what!?_' Naruto groused in his head. _'At least he's not dead, and I can make a big and flashy entrance!! Dattebayo!'_ Pulling a shuriken out, Naruto tossed it at the fake oinin, who apparently was inside the mirrors. By sheer happenstance, Sakura had the same idea, and decided to throw a kunai, which the fake oinin caught. This left him open to the thrown shuriken, which knocked him out of the mirror. The battle immediately paused, as everyone looked to see who had thrown the shuriken. Naruto took his chance. One large poof of smoke and a cool pose later, and everyone on the bridge knew of Naruto's presence.

-=oOO0OOo=-

As Haku's mask hit the ground, Naruto was devastated. This was his new friend! The person who cared for him, said he would get strong. Was it all a lie? On top of that, the heartbeat pounding in his skull was getting ever louder, and it took a lot of effort to keep back. It tried to compel him to do something, but he did not know what.

"Why did you stop? I killed your precious friend, but you can't hurt me?" Haku plainly asked, a dead look in her face.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, after seeing Sasuke. He followed through with the punch he had stopped short on, but it lost most of its power. Some of the blood from Haku's mouth landed on his handed, and the world stopped. The heartbeat rose to a roar, filling his ears with an organic drum that wouldn't stop. His eyes focused on the blood on his hand as ever so slowly the, blood disappeared, like magic. '_No_,_ it didn't disappear_,' Naruto thought. The blood, Haku's blood, was being absorbed through the skin into him. This was what the heartbeat was calling for. Like a hunger, Naruto stalked forward, in a trance.

Haku noticed the change, and having already accepted death, stood but did nothing else. She wondered what was going on with the boy, but figured that it had to do with his friend's 'death.' This was shattered as the orange clad boy reached a hand toward Haku's face. Surprised, but curious, she didn't move and wanted to see what he would do. As she felt his palm make contact, she froze. '_What's happening! Why can I not move?'_ Then she felt the pulse, and the flow of her blood to where his hand was. Although her face reddened, Naruto leaned in, and placed his mouth on hers.

Naruto was running on sheer instinct, and currently that instinct was to find more of that blood he had absorbed. Seeing as most of it had come from her mouth, he placed a hand on her cheek, to absorb some the blood there, and to steady her head in quest to sate his hunger. Although he could have simply used a hand to collect the blood, his body called fro him to use his mouth. With the pulse of the beat in his ears, he felt he was in a fog, and lost as he was, he followed its call. As his mouth covered hers, he could hear faint whispers, telling him to breathe in.

This had the effect of drawing a gasp from Haku, who had a full blush. '_What is going on? Why is he doing this and not ending me after what I did to his friend?'_ her thoughts broke off as she realized she was getting colder, and that Naruto-kun was drawing further into her mouth. She felt her breath begin to leave her body, as he breathed in, and desperately, she wanted to take another breath. She tried breathing through the nose, and it helped some, but Naruto's breath continued to draw hers away. She was further shocked as she was pulled into a pressing hug, their hips touching when she began to fall limp. Before she lost consciousness, she noted how cold it was getting.

Naruto realized something was wrong when the person in front of him began to pale and collapse. He desperately tried to stop what he was doing, but he couldn't, and his efforts only led to the acceleration of his friend's demise. As she fell, he caught her, but had to press her against him to support her with the one hand he could. He idly wondered if dropping her would break whatever technique had been evoked, but was unable to act on it. Thus when the mist blew away and Zabuza was standing, dead from a Raikiri to his chest, Kakashi, Tazuna, Sakura, the thugs at the end of the bridge, and Gato got a great look at him seemingly frenching the enemy missing nin.

-=oOO0OOo=-

Author Notes: This is my first story, and reviews on how this is would be nice. I've already written some of the second chapter, and that will be put up when I finish it. Also, should the chapters be longer, or are they fine at this length?


	2. Chapter 2

Leech (A challenge by KyuubiWindscar)

Dialogue

"Bwahahaha!" – normal speech

_'Bwahahaha__!'_ – thoughts/thought speech

**"Bwahahaha!"** – demon/big summon speech

**_'Bwahahaha!'_** – demon/big summon/Inner Sakura thoughts/ thought speech

-=oOO0OOo=-

Sakura had been listening to the battle as she nervously stood in front of Tazuna. While there was a lot of noise coming from the direction of the ice mirrors, she couldnt hear a pin drop from the thicker area of mist. '_I really hope that Sasuke-kun is alright,'_ she thought to herself.

**_'OF COURSE hes all right! No one can beat Sasuke-kun! Shannaro!'_ **Inner Sakura replied with her usual enthusiasm. This bolstered Sakuras spirits, and she began to think positively again. However, as she was about reenter conversation with her alternate personality, a wave of terror spread over her, emanating from the general direction of Sasuke-kuns fight. After a few moments, the wave receded, allowing her to breathe again. Only after she caught her breath, however, did she notice that the sounds of fighting had stopped completely from both directions. As the mist cleared she noticed something odd. After all the time in the academy, she could not quite picture Naruto wanting to kiss anybody other than her, and here he was with a tongue down the throat of the oinin he was supposed to be fighting.

_'EHHHHHH???!!! What the !#$# is that $%$##!!# of a #$%#! is going on?!?!(1) Naruto is a traitor? Wheres Sasuke? Did Naruto help the enemy get rid of my Sasuke-kun?! Oh my god, he must have been working for them this entire time! Ill bet he was conspiring since before-' _Obviously, Sakura was in full panic mode by now, after spotting the crumpled form of her lover (AN: *cough*fangirl*cough*). Similarly, other third parties were shocked.

_'Wow. This looks like page 67 of my Icha Icha Paradise. Wait, is that Naruto?! And Zabuzas lackey?!? But how did Mister, "I stole my look from a penitentiary and neon lights" get to make out with a hot missing nin?' _Kakashi proceeded to have a temporary reboot where he then could tactically evaluate the progress of his students and the fake oinin. Yeah, well leave it at that (2).

-=oOO0OOo=-

Naruto stopped breathing in as soon as the beat receded. Pulling back, he looked at Haku. Although her body had felt cold when he first touched it, it had grown colder. Her grey eyes, once lively, now was only a glassy stare. Her body remained limp, and her mouth didnt close, stuck in its embrace with Naruto as it lost its spark. Inside Naruto, a new feeling welled up. Not of hunger but of unbearable sadness. Tears came to his eyes, and as they fell, they turned to ice. He ignored everyone and everything else, even as Gato approached ridiculing what he considered his late friend. Gato, seeing he was being ignored, walked up further telling the ice bitch to pay attention to him. This proved fatal. As Narutos sadness and anger peaked it released itself in the most convenient manner it could. In this case, ring of ice to spike out around him and Haku. Gato, in his foolishness, was just in range.

The ice shocked Naruto, as he knew instinctively that he had caused it. As he looked around, Haku slipped from his grasp, and hit the cement of the bridge. The ice began to melt again, as Naruto lost his focus and dropped to his knees to try and catch her. Three things broke the stillness caused by the obviousness of her death. First, Narutos trying to wake Haku up. Second, the thugs shaking off the shock of losing their employer and beginning to talk about raiding the town. And finally, a bolt from Inaris crossbow landing in front of the thugs. These three things, or rather the latter two things, led to a brief standoff between villager and mercenary forces, broken by Kakashi having Sakura and himself making Bunshins to intimidate and cause the new opponents to flee. Naruto, stricken with his friends death, barely noticed the entire incident, still in the circle of melting ice. He didnt notice Sasuke being revived from the false death state. He didnt notice Kakashi coming over to him when the incident ended, and he didnt notice being knocked out to get him to let go of his Haku.

-=oOO0OOo=-

When he woke up, not on the bridge, but back in his futon in Tazunas house, he at first thought it was just a terrible nightmare. This fantasy was shattered after seeing Sakura attempting to attend a still bandaged and battered Sasuke. Still, even with his upbeat manner smashed by current circumstances, he carefully covered his pain with a mask once used solely for Hokage-jiji. This was for two reasons. One, he needed to contemplate what happened with Haku, and two, he needed to avoid the questions of his jounin sensei.

"Oy! Dobe," Sasuke began. Naruto nearly winced. It figures that Sasuke would be the one to start things. "What did you do to that fake oinin?"

"I would like to know as well," Kakashi included. '_I examined the body for cause of death, and it appears like everything just shut down. She looks like she was completely healthy except for her lack of chakra and a bit of bruising and bleeding. Was it the Kyuubis doing?'_ Kakashi, after regaining his wits, had indeed examined the body, after making sure Sasuke and Naruto would be fine. He was still kicking himself for stupidly thinking about something so shallow during a life and death situation.

"Eh? How would I know? After I got out of the mirrors and broke her mask, she hugged me! Then she kisses me and stops moving! I dont remember much after that. Where is she anyway?" Naruto, scrambling for a reasonable excuse for what actually happened. He really didn't want to get into it right now anyway. Not with the beat still echoing in his mind, like a very distant thunder. Fortunately for him, he stumbled across the right words.

"I'm sorry Naruto. After she, erm, kissed you, Kakashi began, it seems she died after releasing a giant ring of ice that killed the man responsible for hiring her and Zabuza." Kakashi paused as Naruto acted in the expected manner.

"No! She couldn't die like that. This is a joke right? It has to be!" Naruto played his part, his mind still whirling about how to get away. He babbled on more, half believing his own words, but hating the looks of pity garnered from them. When he started being frantic and tried to run out the door, Kakashi impeded his progress.

"Naruto! Stop it! Shes dead, and there isn't anything anyone can do about it. I'll take you to the grave we made for her and Zabuza, but you need to move on." Kakashi, usually a man of few words, was worried for the well being of the orange clad brat. After all, a damaged brat, either emotionally or physically, equaled an unhappy Hokage, and a broken brat meant a furious Hokage. Especially considering that he, as the jounin sensei, chose to let them continue a mission that should have been stopped as soon as it rose in rank. When Naruto stopped struggling, Kakashi sighed, and led his student to the gravesite.

-=oOO0OOo=-

As he sat by the grave, Naruto pondered several things about the previous battle. Chief among them was the fact that the ring of ice was not made by Haku, but himself. As he sat by the grave, little more than a wooden cross stuck in the ground with Hakus sash and the pieces of her mask draped on it, he began to pay his respects.

_'Hey, Haku, Im really sorry about what happened on the bridge. I-I don't know what happened really, but I think I can use your techniques now. Or at least make ice.'_ Naruto broke off here, pulling out a canteen and pouring a little water on his hand, he concentrated on making it into something. Although he was aiming for a rose, it formed more of a block of ice on a stick with circles sticking off of it. '_Err, well it didnt turn out for you like I wanted it, but this is for you. Anyway, I hope you make into heaven; you really deserve it. You were the first person close to me my age. I mean, you never looked down on me or laughed at my ideas. I miss you.'_ Naruto stopped his prayer for Haku, as he was not sure of what else to say. After thinking hard for a bit, he decided that was enough. Opening his pouch, he took the larger piece of the mask and placed it carefully so as to be able to remind himself of his first unconditional friend.

-=oOO0OOo=-

A few weeks had passed, and the bridge was finally finished. Naruto said his goodbyes to Inari, trying not to be emotional. Inari was also holding his tears in a spectacularly poor manner. With a nod to Tazuna and Tsunami, Naruto turned around and began walking. The other members of the team began slightly after him, after saying their own goodbyes. As the villagers watched them depart, one of them piped up.

"What should we name the bridge?" This call resounded with various half-witted and half-hearted ideas, culminating in Tazunas proclamation of wanting to name it the "Super Awesome Bridge Built by the Super Tazuna," to a roar of rejections to the idea. Inari then piped up.

"We should name it after Naruto-niichan, 'cause hes the one who helped the most on it and protecting it!" Tazuna stroked his chin, before stopping and declaring,

"Alright! From now on this is the Great Naruto Bridge!" The call met resounding cheers from the village and meetings began in earnest over returning the country to its former marketing glory.

-=oOO0OOo=-

Unlike when they came to Nami no Kuni, where they had to travel at the speed an old civilian drunk moved, Team 7 was able to move at the regular pace for ninja. This meant that instead of the three day travel, it was over within one. However, Naruto began to get a foreboding feeling in his gut. As they reached the gate, the heartbeat that was a mere whisper began to make itself known again. Nothing much, but barely enough to notice, and as self-conscious as Naruto was becoming, he noticed it very, very well.

-=oOO0OOo=-

(1) Somewhere, a certain red-headed flute player sneezed. She proceeded to make sailor-nin blush with her profanity and try to beat the crud out of other Sound Four members for making her sneeze.

(2) Yes, normally he probably wouldnt act like that. But hed just beaten Zabuza, and was not only drained, but relieved that it was over, as well as shocked/surprised at what Naruto was doing.

AN: Please review, as it helps me in my writing quality, both for plot and general writing structure. If there are any major plot holes, please let me know as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Leech (A challenge by KyuubiWindscar)

Disclaimer: I own not the works of Naruto or any of its characters/plot segments. If I did, I wouldn't be doing fanfiction, and Sasuke would not be the main character for a majority of Shippuden.

Dialogue

"Bwahahaha!" – normal speech

'_Bwahahaha!_' – thoughts/thought speech

"**Bwahahaha!"** – demon/big summon speech

"_**Bwahahaha!**_**"** – demon/big summon/Inner Sakura thoughts/ thought speech

Chapter 3: Suspicions

After Team 7 entered Konoha, Kakashi dismissed his three subordinates after telling them to take a week off before they met at the bridge again. Sasuke was the first of the genin to depart, as usual. As he walked away, Sakura followed briefly, hoping for a date, only to be turned down by the raven-haired prodigy. When Sakura turned in disappointment, however, she realized something was missing. Used to hearing a comment from Naruto about wanting a date, she looked around in confusion. Naruto was nowhere to be seen. The fact that he had disappeared her left an emptiness in her chest that she didn't know she had. As much as she proclaimed to hate the blonde ball of sunshine's antics, she liked the attention he gave her and a major source of her confidence in her looks came from it. In a slight state of shock, she headed toward her home, in turmoil over her orange-covered teammate.

-=oOO0OOo=-

Kakashi immediately shunshined toward the Hokage tower after dismissing his team. Although it was common practice for the entire team to attend a debriefing, Kakashi wished some of his speculation to remain confidential, among other things. As he arrived at the tower, he briefly fingered two scrolls, sealed shut and keyed with blood. Inside the scrolls were two bodies, specifically the bodies of Zabuza and Haku. While he had indeed buried them, they were far too valuable to leave. Doing so would only invite missing-nin or oinin to take it for a profit or their village. Also, the bounty for Zabuza would cover the missing money for the mission. Thus, under the cover of night, he had removed the bodies with a variation of his Shinju Zanshuu technique. Of course, he had to hide the fact from Naruto, who would feel betrayed by the desecration of his supposed "friend's" grave. Thus he had sent his genin on a break, suitably long so as not to arouse suspicion from them.

Once inside, Kakashi immediately reported to the Hokage in his office. Sarutobi, who had not seen Kakashi be prompt in a long time, grew serious. Once Kakashi was positioned in front of his desk, the Hokage signaled his guard to leave, and activated the privacy seals located under his desk. The walls glowed briefly with barely seen lines, the only sign that the seals were activated. "Report." Kakashi immediately launched into the conditions of the mission.

"During the mission, Team 7 encountered A-rank missing nin Zabuza and his apprentice Haku. Gato of the shipping corporation hired both. This increased the level of the mission from C to A, as noted in the missive sent. A week after the first interaction with Zabuza occurred, Haruno Sakura, Uchicha Sasuke, and I encountered Zabuza and his apprentice on the incomplete bridge. Naruto arrived part way through the second encounter, after neutralizing two mercenaries Gato sent to acquire the client's family." Kakashi paused, taking a breath. "Uzumaki Naruto then attempted to aid Sasuke in the defeat of the apprentice, as I engaged Zabuza. At some point, Sasuke was incapacitated and from there, the details of the genin fight becomes vague.

"At one point, Kyuubi's chakra was released, though contained again almost immediately. The apprentice was defeated, and died in the arms, and lips, apparently, of Naruto. Zabuza was killed by a Raikiri through his chest at approximately the same time. Gato was killed by Haku, after approaching to closely to her and my subordinate, through pure ice manipulation. Here are the bodies of the two missing-nin for examination." Kakashi stopped, even though he wished to continue with his misgivings. However, it was dangerous to speak ill of Naruto in front of the Hokage for any reason, lest a wrong word be spoken, given the amount of prejudice the jinchuuriki was already facing.

Sarutobi noted his misgivings, and motioned for him to continue. "What is the issue then, Hatake-san? This hardly seems enough for a meeting without the rest of your team."

Kakashi swallowed, "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"I have worries about the death of the one known as Haku. Naruto claims no knowledge of what happened, however precursory examinations of the body show signs of severe hemorrhaging, though the amount of blood on the bridge was nowhere near the amount lost. Because of this, it was not until my second examination that I noticed that there was much more blood missing than what it originally seemed, given that Haku had pale skin to begin with and most of her body was covered. Not only is the death unusual, but Naruto has become extremely evasive on the subject. I am afraid something is going on with him, whether it be the damned fox influencing him or something else entirely." The Sandaime frowned.

"Are you absolutely positive with this assessment, Hatake? Because if you are wrong, it will be more than your paycheck that suffers." Kakashi paled slightly, before replying.

"Yes sir."

"Very well, Team 7 will report for psychological evaluation at 0900 tomorrow. Make sure they get the message." With that, the Hokage deactivated the privacy seal, causing the ANBU to return to their original positions in the room. After Kakashi left, Sarutobi motioned for an ANBU to come forward. "Find Naruto and observe him until his evaluation tomorrow and 0900, and report back to me." The elite ninja nodded and vanished out of the window.

-=oOO0OOo=-

Naruto was currently in his room, unwilling to risk another incident like at the bridge. Something was going on with his body, and he needed to stop it. Moving to his cupboard, he pulled out the one food he could easily afford on his budget: ramen. While he genuinely enjoyed the meals he had at Ichiraku's, instant ramen was rather bland, in all honesty. Unfortunately, he could not afford the fresh fruits and vegetables, as the villagers tended to inflate their prices on such items whenever he was shopping. Ergo, instant ramen was as healthy as he could get, given that they could not inflate the set prices of packaged goods.

After setting the water to boil, Naruto sat down and looked at the ramen that he held in his hands. While normally any food looked really appealing to him, the ramen looked more tasteless than usual. He sat staring at the cup for a few more minutes before he heard knocking on the door. Setting down the ramen, he moved to the entrance and opened the door. He was slightly surprised to see Kakashi-sensei, whom he expected to disappear for the week off. Kakashi gave an eye-smile and said, "Yo."

"Is there something you need Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned. Kakashi eye became more serious as he replied.

"Team 7 is to report to the Hokage tower tomorrow at 0900 for a post-mission psychological evaluation, and do not be late." Then his expression became light again. "Well, I'm off to tell the rest of the team. Ja ne!" And with that he shunshined away in a puff of smoke. Naruto blinked.

'_That's not good.'_ Belatedly, Naruto noticed that he was hungrier now than he was before. His eyes widened. "Aah! I left the water boiling in the kitchen!" he raced to the kitchen to save his ramen.

After saving his dinner, Naruto sat down and prepared to eat. "Itadikimasu!" However, as the first bite entered his mouth, Naruto's eyes bulged and he threw up back into the bowl, dry heaving for a few minutes before he could breathe properly again. _'Maybe it was just a bad bowl.'_ It had happened once before, but it had not tasted nearly as bad as that. Hurrying, Naruto made another cup, this time of miso ramen, his favorite. He also checked the expiration date, just to make sure. Satisfied that the ramen would not be bad for another six months, he took a bite of the food. While not quite as bad as the first time, Naruto threw up again, the taste being repulsive to his tongue. The worst part was the hunger. Even as he sat there the pounding beat in his head reappeared, along with an aching for food which was driving him mad. He tried to drink water, but it did not do anything to fill him and relieve the hunger. Naruto knocked the cup over. He tried to scream for help, but had no energy to do so. Thus, starving next to cupboard of food, Naruto collapsed.

-=oOO0OOo=-

The ANBU arrived at his target's house, wondering what Kakashi had said that convinced the Hokage to place observation on the Kyuubi child. After the incident of finding his ANBU armor pink with flowers, he was not particularly fond of Naruto. However, he was nothing if not a loyal servant to the Hokage, and moved into position to properly observe. When he looked in, however, he found Naruto throwing up and staggering over to the sink for water. He grew more worried as the brat collapsed, knowing if the brat died on his watch, the Hokage would have his head on a pike and body fed to pigs (and not necessarily in that order).

He moved to check on the boy, putting his hand on his neck to check his pulse. It was extremely erratic. However, when he attempted to remove his hand to shunshin the boy to the hospital, it was stuck. Furthermore, the boy's body began to flay his arms and feet. He attempted to yell or escape, but a hand grabbed his throat, starting to choke him. His body began to feel the effects of blood loss, which momentarily confused him, and then he realized that Naruto was drawing blood from his body via his neck and hand. The boy looked up, and his eyes, usually a deep, clear blue, were glassy and dull. As his vision began to swim, he silently cursed the demon brat for finally showing its true colors.

-=oOO0OOo=-

Naruto came to a few hours after the event. Getting off of the floor, he held his head, wondering what had made him want to sleep on the floor. He stumbled into the kitchen and rinsed his faced. As he turned back to the living room to check the time, he noticed the body was on the floor. Naruto stiffened, his hands clenching on nothing. There was only one thing he could think of at that moment,

'_What the FUCK did I do now?'_

-=oOO0OOo=-

AN: I apologize for the long delay in writing. My muse is not very developed, due to my brain not being wired for writing as much as science and math. As such, this chapter has been sitting mostly done for the last few months, with certain plot aspects needing to be worked out so the realism wouldn't go all to hell. Big thanks to Narilyte for pointing out plot holes and flaws to try help keep my story from turning to pathetic drivel. Also, one of his correct comments inspired the following omake.

OMAKE: Where Sakura learned to curse

Team 7 was meeting, as usual, on the bridge to wait two hours for Kakashi to show up. Two members of said team had actual shown, with the third running late. Naruto was sitting on the railing, while Sasuke was standing across from him. This was slightly confusing given that Sakura was normally the punctual one and Naruto was almost always the last to arrive.

However, Sakura was on her way, and was jogging toward the bridge to be on time. Today had had a rather annoying start, with one of her favorite skirts ripping on her way out the door. It was not a large rip, a tiny hole if anything, but it was enough to make her grumble. As she approached her destination, she failed to notice a small root barely jutting out of the round. It managed to catch the tip of her sandal, causing Sakura to stumble into a branch as she sought to regain balance. Naturally this branch snagged the tiny tear in her skirt, and as she moved away, turned the small tear into a much larger one. And, also just as naturally, this happened in plain view of Sasuke-kun and Naruto-baka. She could think of only one thing to do.

"$%$##!#!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at Sakura, ignoring the fact that she had ripped her dress. Naruto spoke up first.

"Sakura, did you just try to cuss?" Sakura blushed slightly while getting worked up.

"What? Am I not allowed to use profanity?" Naruto backtracked holding his hands in warding signs.

"Nononono! That's not what I meant at all! I was just wondering why the hell you just censored yourself, rather than saying damn or fuck or something like that." Sakura blinked.

"What do you mean, 'Censor myself'? I was cursing!" Sasuke snorted.

"You mean you actually curse using dollar signs, exclamation marks and pounds signs?"

"Yeah! Doesn't everybody?" came the terse reply. The two boys looked at each other, and then busted a gut laughing. Or at least, Naruto did. Sasuke simply sneered. As such Sakura decided to vent her frustrations on the more obvious of the two targets, who had currently incapacitated himself. Needless to say, he wasn't able help in the D-rank mission.

"$%$##!#!"

-=oOO0OOo=-

Shinju Zanshuu no Jutsu – Double Suicide Decapitation Technique: a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. The ninja will travel through the ground to appear below their target. They will then surprise their target by then pulling them into the ground. Once in the ground their target is thus immobilized. (leafninja . com)

Shunshin no Jutsu - Body Flicker Technique - Shunshin no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. The ninja will appear and disappear in an instant, allowing them to retreat or attack suddenly. To facilitate the movement the ninja will often use nearby elements such as mist, sand or leaves to mask their appearance or disappearance.


End file.
